Quaker State Corp. v. U.S. Coast Guard
United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
681 F. Supp. 280 (W.D. Pa. 1988)
Relevant factsFree
Quaker State (plaintiff) had leased and later abandoned a drilling site years before the Coast Guard (defendant) discovered an abandoned wastewater containment pit there in 1985, by which time the U.S. Forest Service owned the land and no one operated the site; the Coast Guard cleaned up the spill and demanded Quaker State reimburse the costs as the site's "owner or operator" under the Clean Water Act.
IssueFree
Whether "owner or operator" under the Clean Water Act is defined as of the date of discovery of a spill.